The past two days I have spent four hours at the Katherine Circle family public housing apartments to assist in giving free lunch to the residents. It turned out they didn’t need that much in assistance, but I still found the experience to be very rewarding from a research perspective and I think they found me to be decent entertainment for the kids so I wasn’t a bother. When I first arrived at the apartments I was surprised to realize I had actually already been there before. Last August I went on the 7 Generations pre-orientation trip. My specific trip was labeled Access to Housing and Healthcare. We stopped in one of the apartments in Katherine Circle and talked with an older woman living there. She lived in a household full of young children, all her daughter’s kids. I remember what struck me upon entering her house was seeing the children’s school papers, math tests, drawings, etc. covering every crevice of the walls. It warmed my heart seeing that this woman was putting such a strong emphasis on their schoolwork so that they might have a shot at breaking the cycle of poverty.

The country has seen tough economic times as of recently and Williamsburg is not immune. This might seem hard to believe if one doesn’t stray far from campus, but Williamsburg’s economy is particularly troublesome because it is a service economy. These service jobs do not pay well and affordable homes for workers in the service industry are difficult to find since the average Williamsburg home costs more than they can afford. The research I have been conducting is on availability of low-income and public housing in the Williamsburg area. I want to better understand what kind of access low income residents have to housing here. My goal is learn what it is like to be a low income resident in Williamsburg, what kind of housing options they have, what kind of opportunities are presented to them to help them become better off financially, what policies are in place, what things should be done to improve the housing situation here, and what can be done to help reduce the need for low-income and public housing. My final product will be a paper compiling my research.